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I’m baaaack! It’s really true that you don’t really appreciate something until it’s gone. Being away from my blog for a week has made me really miss putting words to paper. Likewise it is nice to slip from my alter ego into the warm suit of Rival Gates. During my time away I realized why so many writers become recluses. People can drive you nuts sometimes. They can be demanding. Books are never demanding. They just sit there tempting you to read or write them. When you get in a grove on one there is nothing better. You just don’t want to stop. Yet we cannot cut ourselves off from people, as writers. The public provides the basis of many of our best ideas. It is the very things that drive us crazy that make the best writing fodder. As much as we’d like to live like Jimmy Buffet and start writing only after the margaritas are gone and the sun has set on some tropical shore, it’s just not practical. I may love it but writing is serious work and deserves serious attention. That means staying connected to society and live with everybody; even the crazy people. Sometimes you find yourself losing it. I was thinking of something my wife had been telling me as I was calling a customer. We talked about this and that and then when it was time to say goodbye I said, “Ok, I love you. Bye.” Then I hung up. Moments later I looked at the phone and thought, did I just say that? Then comes the big question; do I call back or leave it alone? If I call back I could explain myself but I could make it worse too. If I don’t call what will he think? He couldn’t possibly take me seriously; could he? It was a quandary. Whether it was cowardice or prudence, I decided to let sleeping dogs lie and not call back. I never heard anything from him so as long as I don’t get a Valentine’s Day card I should be in the clear. It just goes to show that no one is perfect. Maybe the crazy people are nice the rest of the time? Then again they could just be born to be annoying.